{"id":9020,"date":"2016-05-10T10:48:31","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T10:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.edrugstore.com\/blog\/?p=9020"},"modified":"2016-05-10T18:10:24","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T18:10:24","slug":"obamacare-marks-6th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edrugstore.com\/blog\/current-health-news\/obamacare-marks-6th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Obamacare Marks 6th Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Obamacare\"
President Barack Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law as the bill’s supporters look on.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 23, 2016, marked the sixth anniversary of Obamacare, the controversial health care law that remains among the most significant accomplishments of Barack Obama’s two-term presidency. However, few laws have so bitterly divided Americans as has the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is the law’s proper name.<\/p>\n

In a recent telephone survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports, 43 percent of respondents voiced a favorable view of the law, while 54 percent of those surveyed said they had an unfavorable view of the legislation. Three percent said they were unsure. The survey contacted 1,000 likely voters between February 29 and March 1 of this year.<\/p>\n

In a more upbeat view of the Affordable Care Act, a Bloomberg Politics poll of 1,000 Americans found that 50 percent of those surveyed believed that Obamacare was working relatively well and just needed a few fixes to work even better. Forty-six of the respondents to the Bloomberg poll said the law was fatally flawed and should be replaced, and 4 percent said they were unsure one way or the other. The Bloomberg poll was conducted between March 19 and 22, 2016, by Selzer & Company.<\/p>\n

Obama Touts Law’s Effects<\/b><\/p>\n

In a White House statement issued on March 23, President Obama said the sixth anniversary of his signature health care law had ensured that health care coverage is “no longer a privilege, but a right.” The president pointed out that under the Affordable Care Act, 20 million more Americans now enjoy the security of health care coverage, which has brought the number of uninsureds in the country to less than 10 percent of the population for the first time on record.<\/p>\n

Obamacare’s critics are just as adamant in their continued opposition to the law. In his assessment of Obamacare’s impact, Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said the law “has failed to live up to virtually every single one of the promises it was sold on.” He went on to say that under the law “millions of Americans are facing higher premiums and skyrocketing deductibles.”<\/p>\n

\"Obamacare\"
The fate of Obamacare — at least in the next four years — depends to a large extent upon who succeeds Obama in the White House in 2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure> What’s the GOP Plan?<\/b><\/p>\n

Priebus’s comments are typical of Republicans’ anti-Obamacare rhetoric. GOP legislators in Congress have voted several times to repeal Obamacare but have yet to come up with a solid plan on how they would replace it. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has pledged to come up with a replacement plan sometime this year, but no fully fleshed Republican health care plan has emerged thus far.<\/p>\n

<\/i>Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a candidate for the Republican Party’s 2016 presidential nomination, dropped out of the race after a disappointing showing in the South Carolina primary on February 20, 2016. Bush offered the outlines of a plan to replace Obamacare with a proposal centered around tax credits that would help more Americans afford health care coverage. Bush’s plan is similar to proposals previously floated by Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.<\/p>\n

Bush’s plan would also include limited protection for Americans with pre-existing health conditions, as well as a cap on federal payments to states for Medicaid coverage targeted at low-income individuals and families. Beyond these somewhat sketchy outlines of a plan, Republicans have offered few details.<\/p>\n

2016 Election Results Key<\/b><\/p>\n

A prerequisite for any successful GOP effort to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a plan of their own would be getting a Republican into the White House, a prospect that is far from assured given the current fractured state of GOP politics. Even then, Democrats in the Senate could still block such a move. And the political makeup of the Congress at the beginning of 2017 could be less favorable for Republicans than it is now.<\/p>\n

In an early 2016 assessment of Obamacare’s pros and cons, Washington Post opinion columnist Catherine Rampell<\/a> said that overall Obama’s signature health care plan “looks surprisingly . . . healthy.” Rampell evaluated the Affordable Care Act on four criteria: (1) expansion of U.S. health care coverage, (2) cost control, (3) effects on labor market, and (4) public opinion.<\/p>\n

Expansion of Coverage<\/b><\/p>\n

On its success in expanding U.S. health care coverage, the primary goal of its drafters, Rampell gave Obamacare high marks. She pointed out that from the time of its passage in 2010 through the first half of 2015, Obamacare has cut the percentage of uninsured Americans under the age of 65 from 18.5 percent to 10.5 percent, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

<\/i>Rampell noted that shortly before the Affordable Care Act was passed, the Congressional Budget Office projected that it would cut the percentage of nonelderly uninsureds to 9 percent by 2015. However, the CBO based its prediction on the assumption that all 50 states would expand Medicaid. A Supreme Court ruling gave states the right to opt out of Medicaid expansion, and as a result only 30 states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid. Taking into consideration this more limited participation (roughly 60 percent) in an expanded Medicaid program, Rampell said that Obamacare has been remarkably successful in expanding coverage.<\/p>\n

Cost Control<\/b><\/p>\n

Moving to the question of cost control, Rampell said Obamacare “has exceeded everyone’s wildest dreams.” She pointed to experts’ predictions that national health care spending would rise at a rate of 5.5 percent in 2013 and 7 percent in 2018. In fact, however, health care costs rose by only 3.6 percent in 2013, and the current projection for the 2018 increase in such costs is 5.3 percent, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.<\/p>\n

\"Obamacare\"
As its sixth birthday rolled around, the Affordable Care Act looked “surprisingly healthy,” according to an assessment by a Washington Post opinion columnist.<\/figcaption><\/figure> Effects on Labor Market<\/b><\/p>\n

Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, some observers predicted that expanding health care coverage to previously uninsured Americans might have an adverse effect on the labor market. Specifically, it was feared that some Americans who were in the job market only because they needed employer-provided health care coverage might drop out once they could get affordable coverage on their own. It was also suggested that some employers would shift workers from full-time to part-time positions to avoid having to provide them with health care coverage. As of early 2016, said Rampell, there has been little evidence that Obamacare has had any negative effect on labor markets. She conceded, however, that this could change over time “as more firms become subject to the employer mandate.”<\/p>\n

Public Opinion<\/b><\/p>\n

When it comes to public opinion, acknowledged Rampell, many Americans still say they hate Obamacare. “At least, they say they hate it, even though they like what it does.” She pointed to numerous surveys that show “Americans are pretty keen on almost all of Obamacare’s specific provisions, such as guaranteeing coverage for people with preexisting conditions, the Medicaid expansion, no out-of-pocket costs for preventive care, and letting children stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26.” In conclusion, Rampell suggested that Obamacare has a “branding issue” rather than any significant flaws that might threaten to destroy it from within.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to read additional articles about health care legislation and other topics of interest to health consumers, check out our blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Don Amerman<\/a> is a freelance author who writes extensively about a wide array of nutrition and health-related topics.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 23, 2016, marked the sixth anniversary of Obamacare, the controversial health care law that remains among the most significant accomplishments of Barack Obama’s two-term presidency. However, few laws have so bitterly divided Americans as has the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is the law’s proper name. In a recent telephone survey conducted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_autoblog_aioseo_focus_keyphrase":"","_autoblog_aioseo_title":"","_autoblog_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-health-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t